Niger hands in formal request to quit ICC

Junta-ruled Niger has officially submitted its request to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Hague-based tribunal said on Tuesday, nine months after announcing the move alongside allies Mali and Burkina Faso.

The three Sahelian countries are all ruled by hardline military governments that came to power in coups between 2020 and 2023 and have turned their backs on the West.

They jointly announced their withdrawal from the ICC in September last year, calling the court an "instrument of neo-colonial repression in the hands of imperialism".

In a statement sent to AFP on Tuesday, the ICC said it had received an "instrument of withdrawal" on June 18 from Niger, led by General Abdourahamane Tiani.

The request will take effect on June 18, 2027, the court said -- one year after notification. Niger must honour its obligations to the court until that date, the statement said.

"While joining or withdrawing from a treaty remains a sovereign right of States under international law, we regret any decision to depart from the collective effort to end impunity for the most serious international crimes," the ICC said in its statement.

The ICC statement made no mention of Mali or Burkina Faso. The three countries are facing deadly violence from jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, but their armies are also accused of crimes against civilians.

Founded in 2002, the International Criminal Court's mission is to prosecute the perpetrators of the most serious crimes, such as war crimes, when countries lack the will or capacity to do so themselves.

The ICC has 125 member states at the moment. The United States and Russia are not among them, nor are Israel, China, or Myanmar.